Adil Abd al-Mahdi takes power as government begins to form

BAGHDAD – Adil Abd al-Mahdi was confirmed as Iraq’s fifth prime minister since the Coalition Provisional Authority late Wednesday, along with 14 of 22 Cabinet ministers, with more political wrangling to come.

The new government reflects a broad cross-section of political parties and ethno-sectarian identity groups – continuing a trend of consensus governance that has characterized Iraq for more than a decade, resulting in both broad participation in the political process and dysfunctional patronage-based politicking.

With more than half of his Cabinet confirmed by Parliament, Abd al-Mahdi, a former oil minister and finance minister, was voted into office and has officially taken power under Iraqi law.

The Ministry of Electricity will be led by Luay al-Khatteeb, who worked for Royal Dutch Shell and then Crescent Petroleum from 2004 until 2009 and is the founder and executive director of the Iraq Energy Institute (IEI), a think tank focused on Iraq’s energy sector.

Mohammed Ali Hakim was confirmed as the minister of foreign affairs. A native of Najaf, affiliated with the Hikma party of Ammar al-Hakim (no relation), he had been serving as Iraq’s representative to the UN.

Other high-profile positions did not get confirmed, including the ministries of Defense and Interior.

Abd al-Mahdi nominated Falah Fayyadh to be minister of interior. A former national security advisor and head of the al-Hashid al-Shabi (Popular Mobilization) commission, Fayyadh ran for Parliament on outgoing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s list, but was controversially fired from his government post as he appeared to be switching allegiances during post-election negotiations.

Abd al-Mahdi’s nominee to lead the Ministry of Defense was Faisal Jerba, a Sunni Arab from Ninewa province and a member of the Shammar tribe. He is a political ally of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi with experience in post-2003 Iraq working in various parts of the security apparatus to quell insurgencies.

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